April 20, 2010 Mrs. Carlson

The prompt for today is: "Write a looking back poem." or "Write a poem that doesn't look back."









Mrs. Carlson

With a dignity that shows in old, elegant photos
Scattered through a house filled with
Memorabilia, dust and Tole painting,
Mrs. Carlson bides each remaining day.
The television shouts rubbish at her
Though she can’t hear a thing
So isn’t really bothered
But likes the company
Of daily soaps and dreary re-runs.
A basement filled with possessions
She hasn’t seen in years
And will rely on someone else
To judge their worth.
Images of a life spent
And now waiting for the inevitable
With patience and perhaps a little understanding.
On a lower shelf sits
A gilded frame encircling her
With three friends, dressed in a rainbow of satin gowns
In Norway, before she learned a new language and eventually
Became the person she is now,
Not completely aware of who comes and goes,
But smiling with firm satisfaction
At a hot cup of weak coffee.

April 9, 2010 A Girl at Sixty

Here is the prompt for April 9:
"For today's prompt, write a self-portrait poem.Other artists study themselves to create compositions (not all of them exactly flattering either), so it is only natural that poets, who are word artists, write self-portrait poems from time to time. In fact, some poets make self-portrait poetry "their main thing." For at least today, make it yours."





Self-Portrait of a Sixty Year Old Girl

Inside me lives a girl.
An adventurer who
Wears skirts just a skosh below her cheek-line,
Holds a microphone with absolute command.
Babies at her breasts, overflowing with mother nectar;
Dances in the sand,
Street,
Or backwoods tav;
Shoots pool, plays poker, rides biker mama,
Challenges cowboys, cops and all authority;
Hitchhikes at freeway on-ramps;
Writes letters home
Telling weary lies;
A seamstress, farmer, carpenter,
Who forsakes aging
And won’t surrender
To swollen knuckles,
Stiff ankles,
Bloated belly,
Sensing the girl within,
Noting surprise
At the unfamiliar old woman
In the mirror.